WVWV did not make the calls themselves.

WHICH TELEMARKETING COMPANY MADE THE CALLS? WHICH TELEMARKETING COMPANY EMPLOYES LAMONT?

Why is nobody answering this question?

These jokers need to be nailed for real before they re-offend. Someone at WVWV must be held to account.

Excuses don't cut it.

Voter outreach is their raison d'etre after all and they ain't living up to their mission statement when they repeatedly break the law.

From the VA newspaper article:

Johnson said that of all the states where the effort is under way, Virginia was the only one where there had been reports of problems.

Isn't that blatantly a lie?

Serial alibi-ers.

If there are any North Carolina law enforcement folks reading this: This taxpayer-citizen asks that you:

1) Pursue this with diligence.
2) Prosecute any crime.

Thank you.

I don't believe them, either. I'm just surprised that after Virginia they didn't just move the operation to some other entity. Pretty weak performance.

"Women's Voices Women Vote is breaking the law, but pretty much everybody else does too"

That misses the point. Most organizations at least identify themselves on their robocalls, even if they don't include contact information... but not WVWV.

So, while both are illegal, WVWV blocked caller ID and did not change their message to at least say who they were, even after two months!

To me, that shows either intent or negligence... neither of which is an excuse for violating numerous state's laws.

Heads should roll, and several people should find themselves behind bars, awaiting trial.

Not all muck is Republican. There are three essential probematical things that are already obvious about this outfit, and two questions that should be answered. Three essential problems:

1. Notwithstanding the kind words their board members have for them, there is no evidence they've accomplished anything that would legitimize their nonprofit status. Exhibit 1: their website makes reference to some groundbreaking study on voter habits, but no such study is posted on their website. There is no evidence they have ever registered a single voter.

2. This charity begins at home. The president gets $100,000 a year for her services, while her husband's company gets $800,000 with no available documentation as to how much of that $800,000 lands in the joint bank account. The website hasn't got a whole lot to say about what hubby does for his $800,000.

3. From its stated premise of focusing on unmarried female voters to its genorosity to Maggie Williams to its smarmy activities in Virginia and North Carolina, this is a partisan outfit from stem to stern. Some things are obvious. Its not Watergate, they haven't hired burglars, but it is pretty damn close.

Now for the two questions some intrepid researchers need to answer:

1. since the contributions they've had from household names like the Carnegie Foundation don't nearly amount to the 4 million they'd amassed and then spent in 06, who is their big donor? The Clinton Foundation? Someone should ask.

2. What did Ron Rosenblith do for his $800,000?

3.

Here's the most positive explanation I can think of for this situation.

These folks are systematically incompetent. They can't figure out how to write an accurate mailer or script a friendly call. They mess up calendars on regular basis. They use the wrong script and can't figure out how it happened. They do things that are likely to cause anxiety and misunderstanding among likely Democratic voters over and over and over. They systematically use cold, bossy language when warmth and consideration would work just fine, and be a hell of a lot more appropriate when urging fellow citizens to join the political process.

Either the nonprofit is too dumb to live, or the for-profit contractors are too dumb to live and nonprofit is too dumb to figure it out.

And either way, Democrats in important leadership roles have failed to figure this out over multiple years. How could John Podesta and Maggie Williams never have noticed? How could the Obama campaign have been convinced these were credible contractors?

That's the best explanation that's still possible. It's the one without crimes or malice. I'm not ready to say I believe it. But if it's true, it's still pretty ghastly.

" The calls using Williams' voice went to men -- because she said while the group mainly concentrates on unmarried women, they also target "African Americans, Hispanics and young people"

Am I the only one who finds this claim suspect? It seems to me they threw this in as an explanation as to why they used "Lamont Williams".

I would love to hear from the Secretaries of State to see the actual numbers of registrations this well funded group produced. Did they actually register voters or was the focus on this misinformation?

Please, Paul, demand some answers from this group. I, too, would love to hear just who funded this group (did they receive Clinton Foundation funds?) and more about the telemarketer-ie Page's husband Ron Rosenblith's duties with the group.

The Q&A at dKos was lame, as if someone wrote questions to insert into WVWV's previous press releases. Not good enough.
Thanks for keeping on this story. The blackout by the other outlets is disheartening.

In an apparent response to my "show me the groundbreaking study" post, women's voices women's votes has posted a purported study. First problem, its dated April 2008 (nice and honest of them, not to backdate), all 28 double spaced pages of it. Next problem, instead of being authored by independent experts, it is seemingly authored by none other than Page Gardner and John Podesta (guess they slapped this one together overnight on the kitchen table). No footnotes, just a cut and paste policy document. You ask yourself, is this a 4 million dollar project? Do you think the Carnegie Foundation got its money's worth?

Now, where is the study of voting habits they ostensibly did? I think there are only two possibilities. 1) Most likely: it doesn't exist, they were lying, they've been caught out. 2) They did a study with money donors sent them but either Mr Rosenblitt is using it to boost his private consulting business or it is being used for partisan purposes rather than for the purposes of this ostensibly nonprofit organization. Otherwise, why not make it publicly available?

This story should have been all over every major news outlet by now, but instead it's drying up and blowing away.

There are a wealth of facts that people have posted on this site alone that need to be brought to light. Are there any film makers out there? This belongs on You Tube, at least.

Wow, I think you guys need to relax. WVWV has done a lot of good work registering low-propensity voters (single women, minorities, young people, etc...). Also, unlike most progressive organizations, they are willing to test and innovate in order to do things better - something other groups would do well to emulate. From what I've seen of their past studies, the work is first rate (not sure why it isn't public, but it may have to do with concerns about GOP-aligned groups getting ahold of it).

In any case, the main point ignored by pretty much everyone ranting hysterically on this site is that WVWV is run by lifetime progressives committed to voter empowerment, not disenfranchisement, and there are both strong Clinton and strong Obama supporters on their board. While WVWV's continued negligence on this matter is inexcusable(someone should definitely be held accountable), to suggest that WVWV is a shadowy pro-Clinton group bent on disenfranchising Obama voters is simply ludicrous.

Let me apologize, merry. You're new here, and I don't know your motivations.
It's just that when I see a voter-registration group engaging in what, from any objective standard, is voter suppression, I get a bit hysterical.